


Smash the Shell (Part One)

by Gwevin Militant (RenkonNairu)



Series: Elevator Monologue [5]
Category: Ben 10 Series
Genre: Angst, Daddy Issues, Devlin and his boyfriend keep admiring each other's bodies, Explicit Sexual Content, F/M, Father-Son Relationship, Future Fic, Gay Sex, Gen, Graphic depictions of violence - Freeform, Gwen Tennyson is Devlin Levin's Parent, Heterosexual Sex, I cannot stress the 'rough sex' tag enough, M/M, No Underage Sex, Null Void, One of my OCs is an alien with claws on his dick and his GF is really into it!, Rook is a feline alien and so has barbs on his penis, Rough Sex, Teenagers Sexualizing Other Teenagers, Xenophilia, but a lot of underage thinking about it, combination of different show canons
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-20
Updated: 2020-03-24
Packaged: 2021-02-28 20:13:38
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 13,424
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23233030
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RenkonNairu/pseuds/Gwevin%20Militant
Summary: Kevin has finally taken over Rook's job of "keeping the Rooters in line" in the Null Void.
Relationships: Aggregor & Kevin Levin, Aggregor & Proctor Servantis, Devlin Levin/Original Male Character(s), Kevin Levin & Ben Tennyson, Kevin Levin & Original Character(s), Kevin Levin & Proctor Servantis, Kevin Levin/Gwen Tennyson, Original Character(s)/Original Character(s), Rook Blonko/Ben Tennyson
Series: Elevator Monologue [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/720321
Comments: 18
Kudos: 36





	1. Beginning of a New Era

“How could you not tell us you were Spanner!?” Ben demanded of his son. “Do you know how dangerous this work is?”

Kenny suppressed the urge to roll his eyes. Of course he knew how dangerous Hero Work was. He learned that really, really, really, early on. When he was ten. When Devlin tricked him into letting Uncle Kevin out of the Null Void. It had been terrifying. But Kenny still wanted to be a Hero anyway. Why couldn't his parents understand that? Professor Paradox understood just fine! That was why he gave Kenny the time shift device that allowed him to be Spanner in the first place. 

“I've come to expect this sort of thing from Devlin!” Ben continued. “He spent his formative years with nothing but Kevin as a role model.” 

From across the chamber, Uncle Kevin -formerly the mutant monster and terrorist known as 'Kevin 11,000'- lifted his head from an open circuitry panel where he was trying to fix the gravity. A solar flare had knocked out the gravity of the Plumbers orbital station during Grandpa Max’s retirement party, and the ensuing alien fight hadn’t done them any favors either. Kevin, ever the mechanic, was trying to fix the problem. But he looked away from his work when Ben mentioned his name. “Oy! Was that a dig against me!?”

“Not now, Kevin!” Ben shouted back at him. “I'm trying to parent over here! I know that's a hard concept for you to grasp.”

That was definitely a dig against Uncle Kevin. 

Kenny sighed. Things would have been easier if Devlin were here. But, unfortunately, due to circumstances -which were totally not Devlin's fault!, the Osmosian was 100% innocent!, really!- Devlin was grounded and hadn't been allowed to attend Great-Grandpa Max's retirement ceremony. 

Then again, maybe it was for the best that the Osmosian hadn't attended. Devlin had had a bad experience with Maltruant when he was younger. Only just come to live with him and his parents for a bit before Aunt Gwendolyn took him to live with her. He was attacked at home and hurled back in time. 

Come to think of it, Kenny reflected as he tuned out his father’s hypocritical lecture on the dangers of Hero Time, how did Dev get back anyway...?

“But you can't just take the first accessory of high-level technology you see and rush off to fight aliens with it!” Ben was saying -clearly speaking from personal experience. Personal experiences that he willfully chose not to learn from. “It takes time, discipline, and patience to-”

“Hang on a sec!” Kenny cut him off suddenly remembering something and glad for it too. If it would get him out of this boring-ass lecture -a totally hypocritical lecture too, though, Kenny wasn't gonna say that out loud. “Speaking of Dev, I just remembered, I was supposed to rescue him four years ago.” A pause. “Uh... fifteen years ago? Whatever. I gotta go save Dev!”

And he was gone. Shifted through time.

Ben stood there, blinking at the empty space where his son –in Spanner costume sans the helmet- had just been standing. Did- did he just blow him off!? Ben was trying to impress upon his child the importance of using highly advanced alien technology safely and responsibly, and Kenny just used it to run away! Oh, he was going to be so grounded when he got back! 

Behind him, Ben heard someone laughing and he turned around to see Kevin was watching him. Leaning against the far wall, arms clutching his sides, and absolutely roaring with laughter at the Hero’s expense. “Damn, Tennyson! Guess he takes more after you that you realized!”

Glaring at the older man, Ben couldn’t help but notice that his work fiddling with the gravity controls was going completely ignored while he basked in Ben’s semi-public embarrassment. Ben drifted over to his long-time frienemy, getting up in the other man’s face. “Shouldn’t you be leaving too?” He growled. “Don’t you have to get ready for your new job keeping the Rooters in line, oh great Warden of the Void.”

Kevin was still snickering slightly. His shoulders shaking a little and his voice skipping when he assured Ben, “Everything’s already taken care of. I’m just waiting on one more requisition request I sent in before I leave. I wanna make sure it gets here before I go. By that way, I don’t like the title ‘Warden’.” Kevin had a negative association with the title stemming from his own time spent in prison as a child. But he gave an unconcerned shrug. Playing it off. “But if Gwen’s ready to go, I think I will head home. Tomorrow is Zed’s appointment and I wanna spend time with her before- -before then.”

The Osmosian glided past Ben. 

“I’ll see you at the planet-side HQ when it’s time for me to head into the Null Void.” Kevin informed him. 

…

At home, Kevin and Gwendolyn found Zed asleep on the couch with Devlin. 

Three years ago one would never see Zed in the same room as Devlin without another human –or humanoid- to hide behind. Zed had a traumatic experience with the younger Osmosian when she was still young and newborn, and didn’t know he had powers –never mind how to control them. Infant Devlin ended up feeding on Zed’s energy. So much to the point that she almost died. Years later, when Devlin was reunited with the family and came back to live with Gwendolyn, Zed was still afraid of him. It took Kevin sitting between them and short sessions of Devlin petting the dog from across Kevin’s lap to get the alien dog to trust him again. 

That was three years ago. Zed was already an old dog back then, but she was even older now and was just too tired to live in a constant state of caution around the Osmosian-puppy. Kevin said it was okay to trust his puppy now, so she trusted him. 

The moment they got home and found the pair cuddling together, Gwendolyn pulled out her phone and took some pictures. Devlin was not the most graceful sleeper –he took after his father in that respect- but good pictures of him with Zed were so rare. The phone made a soft synthetic shutter sound and Zed lifted her head. 

Seeing Kevin, she slowly crawled off the couch on unsteady limbs. 

Zed had gotten so thin recently. 

She was already an adult dog when Kevin first got her thirty years ago. That was an unnaturally long life for a terrestrial earthling dog. An earthling dog Zed’s same size would have only had a lifespan of about five to eight years. Zed had lived more than five times that. She was finally old by her own species’ standards and she looked it. 

Her fur was gray where it used to be an inky midnight blue. Her ears drooped slightly. She got tired more easily, didn’t play as much as she used to, didn’t run, or jump, and certainly didn’t fight aliens, mutants, or monsters anymore. And… her kidneys were failing. Zed was refusing to eat, or even drink water. Some days, Kevin had to force feed fluids and nutrients down her throat. She was much too thin for his liking and she slept most of the day. 

Bending down, Kevin gathered the large alien dog up in his arms. She licked at his face half-heartedly, then curled up in a ball smaller than one would have thought possible, and fell back asleep. 

“Can you carry Devlin to his room?” He asked Gwendolyn.

“Yeah.” She nodded, using her mana to lift the younger Osmosian up off the couch. Not her arms. At fifteen years old now, Devlin was no feather. He got tall, like his father. Not quite as muscled as Kevin was at the same age, Devlin spent more time studying magic than he did working out –he was more like his mother in that respect. But he did still do his fair share of monster fighting and so was no skinny twig of a teenager either. He was tall and lean, and definitely not a light little under fed eleven-year-old anymore. Gwendolyn looked at Kevin, holding Zed. “Will you be joining me upstairs?”

“No, I think I’ll stay with Zed tonight.” He told her. 

Kevin settled on the couch where Devlin had just been extricated from. He hated seeing Zed suffer in her old age and he did not want to leave for his new job with her like this. That was what Zed’s appointment at the vet tomorrow was for. To put her suffering to an end before Kevin had to leave for the Null Void. 

Rolling in her sleep, Zed readjusted her position on his lap to be more comfortable, and Kevin fell asleep sitting up, still wearing the proto-tech armor he wore to Max’s retirement party. 

…

“The Rooters have been unusually quiet.” Aggrenna was saying. Giving her summary of observations from her caravan’s most recent circuit of the Null Void. 

Aggrenna Starspear was the eldest daughter of Aggregor, the rogue Osmosian who absorbed the powers of five aliens from the Andromeda galaxy, mutated into a powerful monster, and almost succeeded in assimilating a Celestialsapien into himself. After his defeat at the Forge of Creation –at the hands of Kevin Levin, not Ben Tennyson- Aggregor was sentences to life in the Null Void. 

And a life he made. Aggregor met a Null Void settler who liked him –the many various gods only know why- and with her Aggregor started a small family. Aggrenna and her two siblings Olennor, and Shirahk. Of the three of them Shirahk –the youngest- was the only one to inherit the Osmosian mutation. A fact that made the boy a target of personal interest for Servantis, the leader of the Rooters. For that reason, Aggregor allied himself with Kevin 11,000 whom was now Magister Levin again. A Plumber and soon to be Warden of the Void. 

While Aggregor did not like the idea of helping the Plumbers, he hated Servantis and the Rooters more. So, Aggregor and his children helped the Plumbers by being their eyes and ears in the Void. Noting things of interest as they traversed the asteroids and gravity swells and reporting back to the Plumbers at HQ-NV. 

Magister Deccar Chaz took down everything she told him. Recording it all in a report that would later be copied, filed, and sent to the Magestrata out in real space. “I suppose it’s too much to hope that Servantis has given up?”

Aggrenna only fixed him with a dry stare. She first met Magister Chaz three years ago when she and her sister helped him, Magister Arys, Kevin, Warden Rook, and Ben 10,000 repel Servantis and his lieutenants from taking over the Plumbers’ base. She was not impressed with Chaz back then, and over the year working collaboratively together, her opinion of him had improved barely a little bit. 

Chaz cringed visibly, regretting voicing the over-optimistic thought out loud. He wanted Aggrenna to like him –because they were allies and had to work together. They might as well like each other. No other reason! Obviously. Chaz cleared his throat conspicuously and turned his attention back to the notes he was taking. 

“Father insists that he’s biding his time. Conserving his forces. Waiting until Kevin comes back.” She continued as if Chaz hadn’t spoken. It was no secret that Hector Servantis wanted control of Kevin Levin again. Not just Kevin, but all the Osmosians. Kevin, Aggregor, Devlin and Shirahk. But Kevin was the first. Kevin was his special favorite. It made sense that Servantis was building his forces in order to subdue and capture Kevin. 

“But since we can’t find where he’s hiding, there’s no way to confirm that.” Chaz reminded her. He did not doubt the instincts and insights of the Warlord of the Andromeda galaxy. But Aggregor’s hunches and gut-instincts were still just guesses. Chaz did not like putting guesswork into his formal reports. 

Aggrenna shot him another dry, exasperated glare. He could be so very rigid some times. It was annoying. All Plumbers had a tendency to be a little stiff and difficult to bend. It was explained to her that they trained them that way. The Plumbers organization liked its members to be rigid rule-followers. Bureaucrats with guns. 

But Deccar Chaz was more rigid in his rule following than the rest that were stationed here in the Void. Always kept his posture a bit straighter, spine stiff and shoulders back. Took fastidious notes, a datapad braced in the crook of his elbow, which the other hand with its nightmare-long fingers dancing over the touch screen, typing faster than any other member of his unit. Never dropped a ‘sir’ or a ‘ma’am’, no matter how annoyed he was –not that a person could tell if he was annoyed. Aggrenna sometimes found herself wondering what his deal was. His back story. Why he was the way he was. Magister Deccar Chaz was just a bit different from the other Plumbers on the Null Void team. 

But whatever it was that made Chaz tick, Aggrenna would not be discovering it today. She stood and picked up her weapon from where she’d leaned it against the wall upon entering the conference room. “Anyway, that’s all we know for now, so I’ll be going. Father doesn’t like to linger too long around you Plumbs. You might find this hard to believe, but he doesn’t entirely trust you lot.”

That was understandable. Technically, according to any official document, Aggregor was their enemy. It was only by grace of his alliance with Kevin that he was willing to work with the Null Void Plumbers. Because, very soon now, Kevin would be the new Warden in charge of the Null Void and the Null Void Plumbers unit and base, HQ-NV. 

Seeing Aggrenna move to the door, Chaz picked up something he’d set on the seat next to him before she got there and leapt to his feet. He met her at the door and held the item out to her. 

“I, uh, I had to go to real space not too long ago. To expedite the others’ transfer requests.” He said by way of a clumsy explanation. “I brought this back with me and thought you might like it. I, uh, I noticed there aren’t any trees here in the Void and so you must never get any fruit here.”

Confused, Aggrenna looked down at his outstretched hand, at what he was holding. Vaguely oval shaped and brightly colored, red and orange, with a stem coming out one end. She looked back up at him, almost suspiciously. 

Chaz fidgeted under her stare. She was always so intense, he never seemed to be on stable ground when talking to her. “It’s food.”

“I know that ‘fruit’ is food.” She snapped. Fruit bearing plants might not grow in the Null Void, but not every being in the Null Void was born there. She had spoken to many people whom had come from real space. They often lamented that they missed ‘fresh fruit’ among other luxuries that could not be found, grown, or made in the Null Void. Aggrenna knew what fruit was, that wasn’t why she was confused. “Why are you giving this to me?”

Again, Chaz fidgeted. The usually pale green of his complexation darkening around his cheeks to a more forest or Nottingham shade. “I just thought you might like it.”

She continued to hold him with her gaze a moment longer. Studying him. Looking for any sign of duplicity or ulterior motives than just ‘sharing something nice with a work acquaintance’. Finally, she took the fruit from his hand. “I will pass it along to my father. He hasn’t had any fruit since his defeat at the Forge of Creation.”

For a quantum of a second, Chaz looked disappointed. He was giving it to her, not to Aggregor. But the expression was there and gone before Aggrenna could register it. He cleared his throat again. “Speaking of Aggregor, your caravan might want to stick around for a bit longer. Magister Levin sent a message saying that he wants to speak to him as soon as he arrives here in the Void.”

“But Kevin is not here now.” Aggrenna concluded. “My father will not stay at a Plumb base just because you say Kevin might be coming. In case you haven’t noticed, he doesn’t trust Plumbs. When Kevin is actually here, then Kevin can come and find him. He knows how.”

She left. 

Watching her retreating back, Chaz heaved a sigh. Talking with Aggrenna was like riding one of those exciting rides with lots of ups and down that made your stomach jump up into your throat and afterwards you felt a little nauseous and defeated, but also couldn’t wait to do it again. Their quarterly debriefs about the state of the Null Void had sort of become his favorite task. 

Aggrenna made her way through he corridors of the Plumbers base. They had become very familiar to her in the past three years. She didn’t come to HQ-NV very often. Only about every quarter. But every quarter for three years meant twelve visits and the architecture of the station didn’t change like the landscape of the Null Void. She memorized the rout between the briefing room and the hangar on her second trip. 

Olennor was exactly where she left her, in the hangar, guarding their Null Guardian –‘nullgar’ as they were coming to be called for short. She was pointing to a bandage on her leg and animatedly telling the story of how she got the injury to another Plumber on the Null Void team which they had become familiar with. 

Magister Targyn Arys was a Lewodan. A member of a very interesting alien species, that looked like ghosts but tasted like vanilla cream –not that either Aggrenna or Olennor knew what ‘vanilla cream’ tasted like. Out in real space, Lewodans had a reputation for being soft, gentle people. Easily manipulated –and worse. But they wouldn’t know that from knowing Arys. He crossed the Null Void without a vehicle or mount, helped save the Starspear caravan from an attacking Way Bad, and fought the Rooters side-by-side with Kevin 11,000 to repel Servantis from HQ-NV. Targyn Arys was anything but ‘soft’. (Unless by ‘soft’ they meant ‘squishy’. He was Lewodan, after all.)

“So, then I just pulled the knife out and stabbed him with hit.” Olennor pantomimed yanking something out of the bandaged area and attacking the air with it. 

“Wish I could’ve seen it.” Arys grinned at the story’s conclusion. 

Because she was short and slender, having inherited a more Settler build, rather than her father’s thick and muscular Osmosian frame, people were always underestimating Olennor. It was a frustration Arys could understand. Being a Lewodan, beings from other races were always underestimating him too. They both enjoyed hearing stories of those who make ignorant assumptions being put in their place. It was the basis of their friendship –and also trekking across the Null Void together and fighting Rooters together. 

“Olennor.” Aggrenna interrupted them. “It’s time to go. Father will be waiting.”

With a sigh, Olennor bid farewell to her friend –not that she would call a Plumb her ‘friend’, especially not out loud- and climbed onto the back of their nullgar. She was slow about it, favoring her injured leg. But she did not ask for help and neither Aggrenna or Arys were going to insult her by offering it. 

When her sister was settled, Aggrenna climbed up after her. 

“What’s that?” Olennor pointed to what her sister held in her hand. 

“A fruit.” Aggrenna answered. 

“Ooh! I’ve never had fruit before!” Olennor’s dark eyes lit up at the prospect of possibly getting to try something from real space that they’d only heard of. “Can I have some?”

“No.” Aggrenna said quickly, stowing the fruit in a saddle bag. “It was given to me.”

With a snap of the reigns, the beast rose up on its tentacles and drifted out of the hangar. 

…

Rook was switching out the nameplate on his office door when Ben came down from the residential floors of the Plumbers Headquarters in Bellwood. 

Of course, the nameplates had to be changed. Max Tennyson was no longer the one in charge of the Plumbers division deployed in the Sol system. Now it was Rook Blonko. Ben just wasn’t expecting Rook to be the one to switch the plates, he thought some kind of menial worker did that sort of thing. 

He also was not prepared to see Rook first thing in the morning. 

“Oh! Hi.” He stopped short. 

“Good morning.” Replied the Revonnahgander cheerfully. 

There was a beat. 

The two men just stared at each other. 

For some reason, Ben was trying to think of what he was supposed to say next. But all he could think about was that this was the first time he was seeing Rook when they were not fighting some kind of alien enemy, and that he did not comb his hair this morning and had a terrible bed-head. 

“You’re here already.” His mouth blurted out before his brain could approve it. Ben felt like a moron the moment the he heard the words. Stupid. Of course Rook was here already. Rook was taking over Grandpa’s job, and Rook was always punctual. Grandpa Max had left, and Rook came in. So, Ben blurted out the next thing his brain could think of that could possibly make sense after that first statement. “Kevin hasn’t left yet.”

Rook nodded. “He is seeing to Zed at the xeno-vetranarian. He will come in to use the Null Void teleporter when he is done.” Of course Rook would already know that. He was in charge of Earth and Kevin was going into the Void through Plumbers portal on Earth. It was all scheduled, notarized, and filed. Official. Rook had to know. “I have to speak to him before he leaves. A requisition request he put in some time ago has been approved and I have a sensitive item to sign into his custody. So, if you see him before I do, please tell him to come to-“ a short trip of a pause, he was about to say ‘Max’s office’ –“my office.”

“Will do!” For some reason, Ben gave a salute. Then immediately felt stupid. This was Rook! He didn’t have to salute Rook. (Technically, Ben didn’t have to salute for anyone. Ben 10,000 worked outside of the standard Plumbers hierarchy and rank structure.)

They both stood there a moment longer. Unsure of what to say to the other and dithering becsue of it. 

“So…” Ben began. 

But Rook cut him off. “I see you are still with Kai. I hope you are happy together.”

Ah. The subject Ben was hoping to avoid. Rook, it seemed, had no problem dispensing with the polite little niceties and getting right down to the root of their awkwardness around each other. Ben suddenly found himself playing with his hands, interlacing his fingers and twiddling his thumps awkwardly. “Yeah… but what I said to you back in the Null Void is still true. You’re really important to me, Rook, and- -and that time when I was with you, back when we used to be partners, that was some of the happiest times of my life.”

He trailed off, unsure of where exactly he was going with that admission. 

“And what I said to you back at HQ-NV is still true.” Rook nodded. “I am glad that you have forgiven me for my betrayal of your trust, and I am happy that you accept my feelings. But I will not be ‘the other man’ as I understand it is called here on Earth. I will not engage in dishonorable behavior with you. If you do want the same kind of relationship with me that I want with you, then you must tell Kai about us.”

“Look, it’s more complicated than that!” Ben snapped, experiencing an entirely different set of nerves and reacting angrily because of it. “Things aren’t like they were before. Kai isn’t just my wife, she the mother of my child! We’ve been together for years! Telling her now I, all of a sudden, wanna fuck an alien cat-boy would be a huge betrayal!”

“Correct me if I am wrong,” Rook began calmy. Rook was always calm. Most of the time that made him seem really cool. But at this exact moment all it did was irritate Ben more, “but would not telling her about your feelings be the bigger betrayal?”

“What would you know about it?” Ben snarled. “You’re not from Earth and you’ve never been married!”

He pushed past the Revonnahgander.

Rook turned and watched his retreating back. Thinking that his situation with Ben had changed, but not improved. 

…

Kevin came into Headquarters much, much later. He looked exhausted, although he hadn’t done much that day. Just took his dog to the vet and said ‘good bye’. He carried a duffle with his personal effects thrown over one shoulder, and Gwendolyn was holding his other hand. Devlin was trailing behind them, looking around to see if he could find Kenny. 

Ben saw the trio first. He went up to Kevin. “Rook wants to see you in Grandpa’s office before you leave. He has something for you.”

No one corrected Ben that it was ‘Rook’s office’ now. 

Kevin gave a weak nod, looking more subdued than a Magister ranked Plumber about to take over command of the base in the Null Void should look. It did not inspire confidence. 

But he covered it up quickly. Lifting his head and straightening his shoulders. Throwing some of that old Kevin 11,000 vitriol into his voice when he said, “I hope it’s because those asshats at Galvan Prime finally approved my reacquisition request!”

He let go of Gwendolyn’s hand, brushed past Ben, and marched into Rook’s office. 

The Revonnahgander was sitting at the desk in front of the terminal, typing quickly. Responding to correspondence or filing documents. Making sure the transition of leadership went smoothly and nothing crucial got lost in the shuffle. Rook was academic and methodical. He would do well in Max’s old job. The Plumbers division on Earth would thrive under his leadership. It actually made Kevin feel better about leaving. He might be separated from his wife again, but at least he knew her home planet was in good hands. 

“Tennyson said you have something for me.” Said the Osmosian by way of announcing his presence. 

Without looking up from the terminal, Rook nodded an affirmative. “Indeed, I did.” He saved whatever it was he was typing and stood. 

Crossing the office, he went to a long thin case that was propped up against the wall in a corner. Lifting it, the Revonnahgander laid the case down flat on his desk. 

A plain, utilitarian metal box. As long as Kevin was tall, but thin. Whatever was inside it was long, but not very thick. The only marking on the case was a sticker over the locking mechanism that labeled it evidence in an old case, the case number appearing above the item’s exhibit number. 

Kevin reached a hand to the box. 

But Rook interrupted him. “To maintain chain of evidence, I require your signature.” He passed a datapad to the Osmosian over the box. 

With a sigh, Kevin took the pad. He glanced over the document quickly just to make sure it was indeed a chain of custody form for evidence. Made sure the case number was correct and that it was for the item he requested. When the Osmosian was satisfied the Plumbers’ Command wasn’t trying to pull a fast one over on him, or no one had fucked up and sent him crap he didn’t ask for, he pressed his thumb to the bottom of the document to sign it. 

Satisfied, Rook took the datapad back and nodded to the Osmosian that it was okay to open the box and verify its contents. 

Placing one hand to the metal of the box, Kevin morphed his fingers into a small blade and cut through the sticker covering the locking mechanism. He popped the box open. 

“I am still unclear on why you want this particular item.” Rook announced. “You are not a spear fighter, Kevin.”

“It’s not for me.” The Osmosian explained, withdrawing the item from the box and examining the blade. 

A polearm-style weapon. Most people called it a spear, but it was a piece of alien tech that more accurately fell between a European glaive and a Chinese guandao. A long staff-like shaft with a single sided blade on the end. The blade shaped like a fin or a wing. Aggregor’s spear. 

Kevin drew his thump over the stylized blade. Still sharp. He grinned. “I’m gonna make a powerful ally in the Void that’ll help me against Servantis.”

He slid the spear back into the case and locked it back. 

Throwing his duffle back over one shoulder, he picked up the long case, carrying it awkwardly under his other arm and exited Rook’s office, making his way over to the Null Void teleporter. His return to the Void was long overdue.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you enjoy this fic series, you can find extra content for it on it's tie-in blog on Tumblr:
> 
> **[Plumbers HQ-NV](https://plumbersnullvoid.tumblr.com)  
> **
> 
> There is art, short side-stories and one-shots, and if you have a Tumblr of your own, you can send Asks to the OCs and your questions will be answered in-character (please specify which character you are asking). Hope to see you there!


	2. Everything in Its Place

Devlin trailed behind his parents as they entered the Plumbers Headquarters in Bellwood. He looked around to see if he could spy Kenny anywhere, but the time traveling sentai appeared to be playing least-in-sight. Perhaps he was still avoiding a lecture from Uncle Ben now that the older man knew Kenny’s identity as Spanner. Ben was not happy, and he was not taking the revelation well. –At least, not as well as Gwendolyn, Devlin’s mother, took the revelation that Devlin was converting energy into mana and going out at night as his own masked avenger, Bad Luck. 

Speaking of Ben, he came marching up to their group before they could even get halfway across the main chamber. “Rook wants to see,” he said to Kevin, “you in Grandpa’s office before you leave. He has something for you.”

Devlin opened his mouth to ask, wouldn’t it be ‘Rook’s office’ now that Great-Grandpa Max retired? Rook took over his job, his responsibilities, and his office. Didn’t continuing to call it Max’s office after Max was gone and someone else working in his place a sign of disrespect? But the Osmosian closed his mouth again without saying anything. There was an odd tension between Ben and Rook, a tension that was so charged it was almost electric. The Osmosian could almost taste the energy between them when they were in the same room together, or when one mentioned the name of the other. Devlin did not want to risk involving himself in… whatever that was. 

“I hope it’s because those asshats at Galvan Prime finally approved my reacquisition request!” Kevin let go of Gwendolyn’s hand, brushed past Ben, and marched into Rook’s office.

For half a second it looked like Ben was going to follow him. He turned his head to watch the older man’s retreating back. But he didn’t. Instead, Ben turned to glare at Gwendolyn. “Did you know my son was Spanner!?”

Next to his mother, Devlin cringed. There was actually a list of people who knew Kenny was Spanner. It was a short list, but enough people for it to be odd that Ben 10,000 wasn’t in the know. Professor Paradox, obviously, he was the one to give Kenny the time travel device that made him Spanner in the first place. Devlin, he was Bad Luck and Spanner’s partner for all non-time travel related cases and misadventures. Gwendolyn, she could sense mana and recognized Kenny was the time traveling sentai, Spanner, before Kenny actually ever was Spanner! Finally, Kevin knew too. After he learned that his own son was Bad Luck, it didn’t take long for him to put two-and-two together. Bad Luck was Spanner’s partner, and Devlin and Kenny were best friends. Considering the people who knew, it was actually kinda amazing that Ben was one of the ones who didn’t know. 

“Can you blame him for keeping it from you?” Gwendolyn asked by way of deflecting the question. “If this is how you’re reacting…”

Ben sputtered for a moment, taken about by his cousin’s complete lack of sympathy. But he recovered quickly. Crossing his arms over his chest and glaring a challenge at her. “I’d like to see how you’d react if you found out your son went behind your back and started fighting the kinds of enemies we fight as some kind of costumed vigilante!”

Slowly, Devlin cast a sideways look at his mother. She also slid a sly glance at him and their eyes met. 

“Want me to show him?” Devlin offered. It would be better if Kenny were here to see his father’s reaction, but Devlin could always tell the other boy about it later. 

“Not here in the main chamber.” Commanded Gwendolyn. She took Ben by the hand and pulled him across the main chamber to one of the various laboratories –currently vacant and not in use, obviously. “Okay.” She said to Devlin. “Now if you want to.”

Devlin cast a mischievous –very Kevin 11 brand- grin at the Hero of the Universe. For Kenny –and the shock value of seeing Uncle Ben’s face- the Osmosian planned to go over the top with this. 

He turned his attention inward, doing a quick assessment of how much energy converted into mana he was currently holding in his body. Devlin did not have mana of his own, he was not an Anodite like his mother, he was very much an Osmosian. But different Osmosians had different abilities, and Devlin’s ability that set him apart from other Osmosians was that he could convert energy –any kind of energy- into mana and use it like any other magic wielder. He also had a wider threshold of energy that could be absorbed before he was overloaded and went insane. One of the benefits of having an Anodite for a mother and being steeped in the wellspring of her mana for nine months. Devlin had more than enough energy for just a quick, low-level, magical costume change. In fact, he could add a little flair to it!

Doing a theatric little twirl, Devlin was enveloped in sapphire light. Borrowing a trope from anime, he did the costume change in stages, daring it out, making it more of a ‘magical boy transformation’ rather than just a heroic quick change. 

Starting as the feet, turning his Doc Martins into a different and much more functional pair of combat boots. Hair coming undone from the tight, no-nonsense man-but he usually kept it in, and switching to the ponytail style he favored back when Ben first met him. Black gloves over his hands, gloves with stripes going from the cuff of the wrist down the back of the hand to the tips of only two fingers. Slacks changing to tighter, more form-fitting black pants. Sweater vest and collared shirt disappearing to be replaced by a skin-tight top, high collared and long sleeved. An upside-down crescent in the center of the chest, and in the middle of the crescent was the number eleven. Stripes starting at the shoulders made their way down his arms to match up with the stripes on the gloves to make it look like the line went all the way down from his shoulders to the tips of his fingers. Finally, the last thing, was a mask over his eyes. A black domino mask with whited out eyes. 

When the transformation was done, Bad Luck put a fist on his hip and smirked at Ben. “Mom’s known about this since, like, the second day.”

Ben just stared at him. 

“And, yes, I was angry.” Gwendolyn admitted. “But not for the same reasons you are with Kenny.”

Shifting his focus, Ben looked at her, skeptical and confused. 

“I was mad because Devlin felt the need to hide the fact that he was Bad Luck from me.” She explained. “He didn’t trust me and that hurt.”

“Mom was so absurdly over-protective back then.” Back Luck chimed in. “I assumed she would just up and forbid me outright from doing this.”

“The thing is,” Gwendolyn took over again, “with kids like mine and yours, you can forbid them from doing things all you want. But that just means they’ll go behind your back and do it anyway. Probably go about it the wrong way, and get themselves hurt.” A pause. “Or worse. So we need to adapt and accommodate them. Be more like Grandpa Max. Let them fight aliens, and mutants, robots, and monsters all they want. Be there for them when they need advice or guidance, or swoop in at the last minute when they need a save –but only at the last minute if there’s no other way for them to help themselves. You have to let them do things on their own.”

Ben frowned at her. He did not like the idea of that. 

“Do I need to be here for the rest of this conversation?” Asked Bad Luck. “’Cause I was kinda hopping to see Kenny.”

There was a matter of particular importance they needed to discuss now that Kevin was on his way to the Null Void. A list of objectives given to them by Professor Paradox three years ago when Kenny first became Spanner. Paradox said Devlin had to discover and master the powers he inherited from his mother. That was the ability to convert energy into mana and wield it like magic. Check. Kevin had to accept the position deployed in the Null Void, and take over as the Plumbers’ commander there. Check. So far, so good. Things were on the right track. 

But, Paradox also said that while they were doing things right on their end, their enemies would still be moving in the shadows. Just because they did everything right, didn’t meant things couldn’t still go horribly, horribly wrong. Paradox did show them the worst-case-scenario ending. A future that was so utterly destroyed that the very fabric of space was broken open. Cracks in reality, spilling Earth into the Null Void and the Null Void onto Earth. 

Ben glared at Devlin in his stupid glowing Nightwing-esque costume. “I haven’t seen Kenny since he blew me off after Grandpa’s retirement party.”

Devlin fidgeted. Ooh… Uncle Ben was super pissed. 

“If I see him, I’ll tell him you’re looking for him.” Devlin fled the room. He wasn’t the one in trouble. But still, he did not want to be around Ben’s negative energy if he did not have to. 

People shot him odd looks as he walked through the corridors of Plumbers HQ. Spanner worked with the Plumbers a lot. But Bad Luck tended to combat enemies that were more magical in nature. That implied that he worked for the High Magus’ office. As such, Bad Luck did not spend much time in Plumbers’ bases and headquarters. It was unusual to see him strolling through the hall as if he once upon a time lived there for a couple weeks when he was eleven. Some people stopped and stared. 

Bad Luck never really learned how to react to people staring at him. So, on the random occurrence that someone made eye-contact with him through the whited out eye-sockets of his mask, he would give them finger-guns. One time even accompanying it with an awkward ‘pew-pew!’ Bad Luck regretted it immediately after, and promptly vowed never to interact with another intelligent being ever again –since he clearly was not an intelligent being himself. 

Finally, Bad Luck made it to the roof of the building. A tall tower rising up above the city. From atop the roof of the Plumbers Headquarters, a person could see all of Bellwood, and even a little into the dessert beyond. On a clear day, and if they had good eyesight, a person could see all the way to Los Solidad. 

Today was not a particularly clear day. The weather was nice. Warm. Mild sun. Only a few whispy clouds in the sky, but nothing dark or overcast. But it was a weekday which meant heavy smog cover. The haze from the city extending out to the landscape beyond it. Bad Luck could not see all the way out to Los Solidad today. 

That as fine. It was now the view that he came up here for. 

Kenny was sitting on the railing that ran the perimeter of the roof. Still wearing his Spanner costume, but without the helmet. His brown hair blowing in the wind. Bad Luck hopped up on the railing beside him, waved a hand in front of his face, and the domino mask covering his eyes vanished into the air. 

“Saw your dad downstairs.” Said Devlin. 

“He still mad?” Asked Kenny. 

“Lividly.” Confirmed the Osmosian. “I told him that if I found you, I’d let you know that he’s looking for you.”

Kenny only scoffed. He had been sitting in the roof –not hiding- for a while now. If Dad really was looking for him, he must not be looking very hard. 

And it was so stupid too! He was so mad and there was no reason! Mom wasn’t this mad. At Great-Grandpa Max’s retirement party, Kai’s reaction to learning that her son was Spanner all along was more along the lines of ‘disappointed but not surprised’. He was also the son of Ben 10,000 after all. What did they expect from such a child? He grew up in a huge shadow, with a high reputation to live up to. It wasn’t a question of whether or not Kenny became a hero of his own, it was a question of ‘how did they ever think they could stop him?’ At least, his mother understood that. 

But Kenny pushed his parents from his mind. They had problems of their own, and thinking about them inevitably led him down a dark trail of thought that he could not let distract him right now. 

“Uncle Kevin leave for the Null Void yet?” He asked. 

“Just about.” Nodded Devlin. “He was in Rook’s office when I came up here. But he’s gotta have left by now.”

Kenny nodded. They needed Kevin in the Null Void. At least, Professor Paradox told them they needed Kevin in the Null Void. Things were coming together. So far, so good. “What do you think Paradox meant when he said ‘the enemy will still be moving’?”

The Osmosian gave a shrug. “I imagine he means they’ll be working on plans of their own, learning skills or putting people in strategic locations, same as we are.”

Looking out over the city, Kenny rested his elbows on his knees and frowned. He really wished he knew what ‘the enemy’ was actually doing. That would be nice. Or even what their actual plan was. Their objective. Destruction of the universe did not sound like an actual goal. More like a horrible accident. When they went to the future, Kenny saw himself and Devlin fighting Servantis, the leader of the Rooters. So, then enemy had to be the Rooters. 

At least they knew the ‘who’, even if they didn’t know the ‘what’ or the ‘why’ just yet. 

…

The machine was a ruin. 

Over thirty years old. It was broken, the vertical spire topped with a dimensional drill-bit was listing to one side, threatening to fall. The central chamber was covered in a thick layer of rust. And what used to be kormite was reduced to a pile of brown mulch. 

But that was fine. Servantis wasn’t looking to use the dimensional drill. He just wanted to see how it was built so that he could make one of his own. 

Thirty-two years ago, this was the doomsday machine of D’Void –Dr. Animo operating under a temporary moniker during his stay in the Null Void. His dimensional drill, which he planned to use to break open the barriers between the Null Void and real space, take his army of mind-controlled Null Guardians, and conquer Earth –and possibly the rest of the universe as well. 

Servantis wasn’t quite sure how he felt about universal domination. Or even world domination for that matter. But his mission had always been to neutralize (read: kill) Ben Tennyson and destroy the Omnitrix. He couldn’t do that if he was trapped in the Null Void. And if he happened to recapture a couple of his favorite Osmosians along the way, well, that would just be an added bonus! 

“Take it apart.” He commanded to Phil Billings and a number of other grunt troops they had enlisted since being stripped of rank by the Magistrata and sentenced to remain in the Void as criminals. “But do it carefully. I want to know how it worked. We’re going to make one of our own…”

…

Kevin 11,000 was going to be arriving any minute now. 

Magister Levin. 

He was a Magister ranked Plumber again, not the criminal Kevin 11,000. He was going to be taking over Rook’s position as Warden of the Void. 

Warden Levin.

Everyone was feeling a little unsure, even apprehensive, of the new shift in leadership. The Null Void had always been a difficult deployment. With a high turn-over, and a high mortality rate among Plumbers. It was usually used as a disciplinary transfer for Plumbers that deviated outside of what was considered acceptable behavior for a uniformed officer. Magisters Arys, Frey, and Roose were all assigned to the Void as punishment for one thing or another. Honestly, the same explanation could applied to Warden Levin too –since he was the infamous criminal Kevin 11,000. 

“You put in our transfer requests, right, Chaz?” Roose asked. 

The Loboan was the third to ask him in the last ten minutes. There were only three other Plumbers stationed in the Null Void besides Chaz himself. That meant every single one of his co-workers had pestered him to make sure he put in their transfer requests. 

No one wanted to work under Kevin 11,000.

No one wanted Kevin 11,000 as their direct superior. 

Even Chaz was apprehensive. He had been in the Null Void longest out of all of them and, while he never confronted the man directly while he was a criminal, Chaz did see just how terrifyingly destructive the Osmosian could be. 

“Yes.” Chaz assured his colleague. “I made a special trip to Galvan Prime in order for the requests to be expedited quickly.” 

Chaz was their ‘paperwork guy’. More often than not, if something required forms, reports, or filing, Chaz was the one to do it… or else it did not get done correctly –or at all. 

They were all lined up shoulder to shoulder in front of the Null Void teleporter, standing at parade rest –if it could be called a ‘rest’ with shoulders slouching or arms crossed. Chaz was about the only one actually holding the pose as it was meant to be held. Feet slightly parted, arms resting behind his back, spine straight and shoulders back. Arys, Frey and Roose all looked like disenfranchised children awaiting detention. 

Roose yawned, all four mandible of his Loboan snout parting with the action. Displaying rows of sharp canid teeth and a long blue tongue. 

Frey was fiddling with her scarf, all three of her Uxorite eyes focused on the fabric, not looking up. Her head tentacles twitched behind her, swaying from side to side like the tail of a nervous and impatient cat. 

Arys looked board and kept reaching up to pull one of the energy blades he carried as he preferred weapons from the sheaths on his back. He was about another minute away from taking one of the weapons out and polishing the blade emitters, or servicing the grips right there in the Null Void chamber. 

They were all impatient and none of them wanted to be there. They had all put in requests to transfer to other deployments. Out in real space. Other planets, or outposts, space station, hell! even just a service depot. Anwhere that wasn’t about to fall under the command and control of Kevin 11,000. 

Suppressing an unprofessional sigh, Chaz cast a glance to the “Null Void’s Most Wanted” wall. A segment of the Null Void teleporter chamber was taken up by more than a dozen mugshots of criminals within the Null Void. The Null Void itself was supposed to be a prison, but it was a prison that had been used as such for centuries. The original prisoners who ‘settled’ the Void had eventually had children and made families. Their descendants were not criminals, just natives of a prison dimension. One of the Plumbers purposes here in the Null Void was to protect the native residents of the Void from the new criminals and prisoners that were teleported in. The worst or most dangerous offenders were posted on the wall for the Plumber to watch out for. 

Kevin 11,000’s poster was still on the wall. 

Right at the top. Right next to Hector Servantis’ poster. 

The mugshot was crossed out. Someone –probably Rook- had taken a strip of back speed tape to the poster and marked through it. Kevin Levin was no longer the criminal Kevin 11,000. He was one of them again. A good guy. An ally of Ben 10,000. A Plumber. Soon to be the new Warden of the Void. 

But nobody had actually taken Kevin’s mugshot down. 

Moving on impulse, Chaz crossed the Null Void chamber and pulled Kevin’s picture down from the wall. It would not do for their new commanding officer to teleport into the base and the first thing he sees is his own face listed at the top of the most dangerous criminal list. 

Chaz was tucking the picture under one arm, trying to figure out what to do with it when the teleporter flared to life. 

The machine making a whirring sound as the teleportation nodes began to glow and a figure appeared on the target pad. Bipedal, standing erect. Two arms, two legs, one head. Long dark hair falling down his back, one errant lock falling in front of his face. Wearing an outdated set of proto-tech armor that looked like it might have been Rooters issued. Wearing an old metal padlock with the number eleven etched into it. An X-shaped scar on his chin. Carrying a duffle over one shoulder and a long metal case under the other arm. 

Kevin 11,000 –Warden Levin, he was Warden Levin now!- stepped off the target pad. 

He already looked tired. 

Everyone snapped to attention. 

Chaz dropped Kevin’s mugshot. It clattered loudly on the paneled floor. Everyone turned to stare at him. Kevin’s eyes fell on his own face and the familiar mugshot. Chaz inwardly cringed. He was hoping to avoid exactly that. 

Kevin’s eyes snapped up to Chaz’s face, recognizing him. “You’re still here! Hasn’t somebody killed you yet?”

“No, sir.” Chaz assured him. Then caught the tone Kevin used. “Sorry to disappoint you, sir.”

“Oh, you’re funny now. That’s cute.” Kevin dropped his duffle on the floor with a muted THUMP. He turned his eyes to the other three. 

Roose, Frey, and Arys. A Loboan, a canid, werewolf-like alien from the moon of planet Anur Transyl, Luna Lobo. Kevin had plenty of experience with Loboan abilities thanks to Ben’s use of Blitzwolfer, but he was not so experienced with actual Loboans themselves. He had even less knowledge of Uxorite. He knew that Max had dated one in the past, Max was a bit of a fox in his prime. But all of his knowledge was second hand. Lewodans, however, he was very familiar with. Not only did he help Ben with dissident Lewodan political sects and terrorist groups hiding in Undertown, he also escorted the Lewodan prince, the Tiffin, halfway across the galaxy on –what he thought at the time- was a political hostage exchange. (It was not a hostage exchange.) Lewodan, at least, Kevin felt more informed on. 

None of them looked particularly enthusiastic. 

He set the metal case down next to his duffle. Then crossed his arms over his chest. “Alright, how many of you actually plan to still be here by the end of the week?”

No one raised their hand or equivalent appendage. 

“Good.” Kevin nodded. “’Cause I didn’t prepare any rousing speech about our mission or purpose here, or how we’re supposed to be serving a noble role in the Void. The Null Void is a shit-show and I’m only here because I’m actually crazy enough to care what happens here.” 

Leaving his baggage on the floor, Warden Levin crossed the teleporter chamber to Magister Chaz. 

The younger man froze, terrified to find Kevin 11,000 coming towards him. The normally pale green tone of his skin fading to liter shade of dusty sage. 

Kevin stopped just short of him. Glaring down at the other man. Gosh! Kevin 11,000 was so tall! His file said he was a hundred and eighty-seven centimeters tall (in his baseline form), that was almost two meters. It was one thing to read that a person was almost two meters tall, it was an entirely different thing to see them glaring down at you with dark eyes, through a curtain of ebony hair, and know that they could break you in half on a whim. 

But Kevin did not break Chaz in half. Instead, he bent down and picked up the mugshot he dropped. Kevin’s own mugshot. 

Picture in hand, he stepped past Chaz as if the other man wasn’t even there and put the mugshot back up on the wall where it had been. The speed tape was still over it, marking out half his face, but it was still identifiable as Kevin Levin. 

“Don’t ever forget what I am.” He commanded. “I don’t.”

That done, he collected his baggage from the floor and marched out of the teleporter chamber. 

Chaz managed to wait until the door had slid shut behind him before he crumpled on the floor in an unprofessional heap of nerves. “I thought he was gonna kill me!”

“Don’t worry.” Frey tried to reassure him, not exactly sure how. They spent the past three years working together, but also keeping each other at arm’s (or equivalent limb’s) length. They were not very close and did not actually know very much about each other. “If he kills you, he’ll be branded a criminal again.”

As if Kevin 11,000 would even care. He played jump rope with the line between helpful and constructive member of a society, and sociopathic mass-absorbing fuck-head monster. 

“Unless Kevin just says Chaz was killed in the line of duty.” Roose cut in. “I mean, this is the Null Void. It would be our word against his and he’s our commanding officer.”

“I’m sure there’s a lot of paperwork involved in a death.” Arys argued. “Kevin 11,000 –I mean… Warden Levin might not want to deal with all the that.”

“There’s really not.” Chaz informed them all. He was ‘the paperwork guy’ he would know. “It’s just one form, and it’s really easy to fill out.”

All four of them looked back at the closed door Kevin exited through. 

“Okay, but we all put in our transfer requests.” Frey reminded the room. “As soon as those go through we won’t have to worry about Kevin anymore. We’ll all be gone.” 

Chaz looked down at the paneled floor. He made sure to put in their transfer requests, but he didn’t put in one for himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Join me for extra content of this fic on it's tie-in blog on Tumblr:
> 
> **[Plumbers HQ-NV](https://plumbersnullvoid.tumblr.com)  
> **
> 
> There is art, short side-stories and one-shots, and if you have a Tumblr of your own, you can send Asks to the OCs and your questions will be answered in-character (please specify which character you are asking). Hope to see you there!
> 
> Also, the artist who's been doing art for this fic is [Coconfetti](https://coconfetti.tumblr.com). You should definitely check them out! They take commissions!


	3. Kevin & Aggregor

As commander of the Plumbers Headquarters in the Null Void, Kevin did not have to share a bunk with another Magister. 

(To be fair, since there were so few of them stationed at HQ-NV, and the station was designed to accommodate a crew of two thousand, the four Magisters that were assigned to the Void didn’t have to share bunks either.) 

Kevin had his own private head (toilet), with attached washroom (equipped for both water showers, and dust baths). A larger bedframe, most Plumbers barracks were equipped with a standard twin-size mattress unless exceptions had to be made for species with specific needs. The mattress on Kevin’s bed was somewhere between an Earth size-full and an Earth size-queen. Which would be great when (if) Gwendolyn came to visit him! The closet was bigger too. Able to accommodate more than just the standard two spare uniforms and three pairs of training suits. 

Opening the closet, Kevin noted that there already were two uniforms waiting for him. Hanging on hangers, freshly pressed and bearing his name ‘Levin’ with the chevrons of a commanding officer on the shoulders. They were the new design of the standard issue Plumbers uniform. All black proto-tech armor, extra metal plating on the collar and shoulders to offer extra protection to the neck and collarbones, also with clasps to seal an air-tight helmet on if the wearer had to space-walk for any reason. 

Ignoring the new uniforms, Kevin threw his duffle down in the closet and slid the door back. 

He had a lot to do and dressing like a Plumber –even if he was one again- would not help him in any way. Kevin was specifically given this command because he was the only Plumber that also wasn’t a Plumber. At least, not in the eyes of the residents of the Null Void. And that was what was important. That they didn’t see Kevin as an outsider. They needed to see Kevin as one of them. 

Still wearing his old Rooters proto-tech armor, Kevin picked up the case containing Aggregor’s spear and headed down to the hangar. 

HQ-NV didn’t keep nullgars, domesticated Null Guardians. All they had were tactical hover vehicles, THVs, and all of them were branded with the electric green hourglass symbol of the Plumbers. He couldn’t go out and make allies with people that spent their lives being harassed by the Plumbers, if he was driving a Plumbers branded vehicle. 

With a sigh, Kevin selected the THV closest to him. Folded the front passenger seat down to fit the spear case in it, and set to work scraping off the Plumbers logos. One on each side and a third on the hood. 

Placing a hand to the metal of the frame, the Osmosain absorbed some of the matter and morphed his hand into a scraper. The sound of metal scratching against metal lanced through the air, and sent an uncomfortable tingle down Kevin’s spine. It was like nails on a chalkboard. Kevin always hated the sound of metal scraping against metal, even when he was the one doing it in his auto garage for one reason or another. He winced in sympathy pain for the poor vehicle, getting her paintjob scratched off and defaced by some new mechanic she only just met. 

“I’m sorry, New Ride.” He whispered to the THV. 

When it was finally done, there were no Plumbers symbol branded on the outside. 

If Kevin had more time he would have gone over it with a couple coats of metal sealant and finish. So that dust, rust, or corrosive particles didn’t get in the scratches and deteriorate the armor exterior. But he wanted to get a head start on his work in the Void. It was bad enough that Servantis had a decade long head start on him. 

But he did grab a can of spray paint, and paint a hasty and messy number 11 over all the places where he’d scratched off the green hourglass Plumbers logo. 

That done, Kevin hopped in the driver’s seat, and pulled out of the hanger. He had allies in the Null Void. He just had to find them and make sure they were still on his side. 

…

“You are spending far too much time with the Plumbs.” Aggregor was saying. He had been complaining about their alliance –if it could even be called that, Aggregor wasn’t yet sure what he was getting out of it- with the Plumbers almost from the moment Aggrenna and Olennor returned to the caravan. 

Aggregor did not trust the Plumbers. He did not trust a group of people who claimed to be the guardians of justice and liberty, champions of the weak and downtrodden, but then would dump a defeated and unconscious being alone in the alien equivalent of the Turkish prison without any means of protection or even caring for themselves. The Plumbers didn’t actually deal with their enemies. They swept them under a rug. 

Three years ago, he allied himself –an alliance that was supposed to be temporary- with Rook Blonko, the then Warden of the Void, in order to prevent Servantis from taking over the Plumbers base and having access to the stock pile of weapons and resources it held. After that battle, Kevin Levin realized that he was needed in the Void and admitted that he would takeover Rook’s job. Hearing that it would be the other Osmosian in charge of the Plumbers’ presence in the Null Void, Aggregor agreed to extend the alliance. 

That had been three years ago. 

Rook left. 

But Kevin hadn’t shown up yet. 

Aggregor was getting impatient and starting to feel swindled. Used and manipulated by the very organization that trapped him in the Null Void in the first place. And he was always most vocal about it whenever his daughters came back from reporting to their Plumb ‘allies’. 

Olennor climbed down off the nullgar the sisters had borrowed for their detour to the Plumbers base. She was slow about tit, favoring her injured leg, but when her feet were back on solid asteroid again, she scoffed. Unimpressed by her father’s prejudice against Plumbers. From her own short experience with them, they weren’t all that bad. Inexperienced and ignorant of how things were done in the Null Void, yes. Duplicitous and untrustworthy, not really. They were dumb, not malicious. 

Aggrenna jumped down off the nullgar’s back, landing on the hard rock of the asteroid with a soft THUMP of boots on stone. “The skinny green one said Kevin would be coming soon.”

“They have been saying that for three years.” Aggregor waved a dismissive hand. 

“Which skinny green one?” Olennor looked at her sister. “There’s two. The tall Uxorite with the scarf, or the short little paper-pushing gremlin?”

“The paper-pushing gremlin.” Aggrenna clarified. Her sister was right ‘skinny and green’ did describe two of the Plumbers living at HQ-NV. She looked at her father. “He seemed to imply that Kevin would be coming sooner rather than later. He said Kevin had something he wanted to give you.”

“Hey, was he the one who gave you the fruit?” Olennor pressed. 

Aggrenna shot her a dirty look. It was not lost on her that her little sister waited until they were standing in front of their father to ask her about the Plumber that gave her the gift. 

“He gave you a fruit?” Suddenly, the fact that the Plumbers –as a whole organization- had been stringing them along was forgotten. Aggregor focused the full force of his gaze on his eldest daughter. 

With stinting movements, Aggrenna reluctantly pulled out the fruit Magister Chaz had given her. Oval shaped, brightly colored, a yellow that faded into orange, with the stem still attached. “We can’t grow fruit here in the Null Void, so he brought this back from real space.” A pause. “Then gave it to me.”

Her tone implied that she still did not understand why he gave it to her. 

“I am aware we cannot grow fruit in the Null Void.” Aggregor was glaring at the fruit now, as if the item had personally offended him. His eyes snapped back to his daughter’s face, concern mixing in with his hatred for the Plumbers. “What did he ask for in return for this… ‘gift’?”

Aggrenna blinked, confused. “He didn’t ask for anything in return. He just thought I might like it.”

Aggregor took the fruit from her open palm. “When you see him next, tell him I did not let you keep the fruit, and that he shouldn’t give you any further ‘gifts’ in the future. And,” a concerned pause, “if he tries to demand something in return for his ‘generosity’ to you, I want you to put your knife through his ribs. Do you understand me. There’s no such thing as a ‘nice’ Plumb.”

As if she didn’t know how to fend-off unwanted attention. 

“I already told him I would give it to you anyway.” Aggrenna growled at him. “I was hoping to eat it myself. I’ve never had fruit before.”

“We do not accept gifts from Plumbs.” Aggregor reminded her. Then tossed the fruit over the edge of the asteroid. 

“Hey!” Aggrenna took a half step after it, as if she were about to dive to try and catch it before it could be flung too far. But she stopped herself. It was not worth diving off an asteroid and risk getting caught in a gravity tide for a piece of alien food she wasn’t even sure she was going to like. Instead, she voiced her anger at her father. “I wanted to eat that! It was given to me! You have no right!”

“You have no idea what he could have put in that!” Aggregor replied calmly. “What if he had put some kind of drug in in it, intending for you to eat it while you were still at HQ-NV where he could have… taken advantage of your altered state…” He trailed off, the idea making him more uncomfortable than it seemed to make his daughter. “From now on, I don’t want either of you accepting any gifts from Plumbs. Especially not food or drinks! Understood?”

Both women gave half-hearted grumbles of affirmative. 

“Good.” Nodded Aggregor. “Now, let’s move on. We’ve lingered too long in one place and I don’t like lingering this near to the Plumb base.”

…

If, thirty years ago, someone had told Kevin Levin that he would be looking for Aggregor, Warlord of the Andromeda galaxy as an ally, he would have called that person crazy. 

Aggregor kidnapped fiver different species of aliens, from five separate planets, absorbed all their life energy and assimilated their powers into himself. He stole religious artifacts from the Necroffrigians, destabilized the planetary core and nearly destroyed planet Piscciss, broke into Ledgerdomain and robbed the magical realm of its source of power, made his way all the way to the Force of Creation and almost became a god. 

It was only by absorbing Ben’s Ultimatrix that Kevin –as Ultimate Kevin- was able to defeat him. 

Aggregor was thrown into the Null Void because of the younger Osmosian. 

But that was over thirty years ago. 

In that time, Kevin himself became a criminal. One just as bad as Aggregor had been. And he had been thrown in the Null Void himself multiple times. On one of those stints, the two Osmosians happened to cross paths again. There was a fight. Of course. With the history the two had with each other, a confrontation between them was inevitable. They could not just forgive and forget and become friends. 

But, while Kevin had grown in their time apart, become an adult, married Gwendolyn, and had a child before going insane and being condemned to the Null Void again. Aggregor also changed in that time. Aggregor met a mate of his own in the Null Void, a female Void Settler by the name of Olenna. With her he had made himself a small family. Two daughters, Aggrenna and Olennor, and the youngest a son named Shirahk. Of the three of Aggregor’s children, Shirahk was the only on to inherit the Osmosian mutation and –just as Devlin fed off Gwendolyn while she was pregnant with him- Shirahk had also fed off his own mother from the inside during gestation. 

When Kevin finally crossed paths with Aggregor again, he did not find an old enemy, but a sad, broken man, mourning the recent loss of the woman he loved, and caring for a difficult child with unique –and dangerous- powers, and special needs. It was not unlike Kevin’s own situation with Devlin. In a moment of uncharacteristic empathy, Kevin offered to help Aggregor out while he was stuck in the Void. 

The offer was immediately refused, of course. Aggregor did not trust old enemies. Especially not with his children. 

At least, he didn’t until Shirahk was kidnapped by Servantis and the Rooters. Servantis had a thing about Osmosians. He considered himself to be a sort of ‘authority’ over the mutant sub-species ever since he coined the term decades ago. He ‘discovered’ the Osmosian mutation. He named it. He studied it. He figured out how to use it and weaponized it. Osmosians should belong to him and Shirahk was an Osmosian. 

Servantis had tried to convince Kevin to let him take Devlin when he was still newly born as well. In fact, that was how the deposed-Proctor ended up back in the Null Void in the first place. Kevin sent him there with a Null Void projector after they escaped Tennyson with the infant Devlin. 

With a common enemy to unite them, Aggregor teamed up with Kevin to rescue his child from the Rooters. 

Ever since then, the two Osmosians weren’t exactly ‘friends’, but they were at least no longer enemies. They understood each other in a way that few other beings in the universe could. They were the same. Same mutation, same sub-species, same powers, same limitations and vulnerabilities, and almost the same life experiences too. 

They knew each other. 

The kind of ‘knowing’ that lead to almost unconditional trust. When Kevin said he would take over command of the Plumbers in the Null Void, Aggregor believed him. Kevin was just sorry it took him so long to actually do it. 

Then something came careening through the air and impacted the forward view shield of his THV. It splattered orange pulp all over view shield. 

“What the fuck!?” Kevin cut the propulsion, and activated the forward jets to bring the vehicle to a stop (piloting in the Null Void was very similar to piloting in the vacuum of space). Hovering in midair with asteroids drifting around him, the Osmosian popped the hatch and climbed out to see what had just hit his Ride. 

Orange, and juicy, and slightly sticky. A pit sticking out through the mushed pulp, a ruptured skin that used to be yellow and orange, with the stem still sticking out of it. A fruit of some kind. But fruit didn’t grow in the Null Void. There were no trees in the Null Void. The Void did not have enough light to support trees. Someone had to bring the fruit in from real space. 

Peeling the chunkiest bits off the view shield with his fingers, Kevin looked up in the direction the fruit had come flying from. He could just barely make out a number of nullgars above him. Traveling in a line, organized, not like wild Null Guardians, and laden with baggage. Pack animals belonging to a caravan. If it was a caravan that traded with someone that could get fruit from real space, then chances were that was the Starspear clan. Aggregor’s tribe. Meaning Aggregor would be with them. 

Exactly the man Kevin wanted to see. 

He climbed back into his THV, turned on a view shield wipers (a feature he never expected to have to use in the Void), and drove up to intercept the Starspear caravan. 

…

“I’m just saying, if you didn’t wanna let Aggy eat the fruit, you could have cut it up and let us have some.” Shirahk was complaining. He had been complaining about missing out on the chance to eat something brought from real space practically since Aggrenna and Olennor returned to the party. 

“You don’t know if the Plumb put anything in it.” Aggregor grumbled. 

“I bet Kevin would have let us eat the fruit.” Olennor muttered next to Shirahk.

Aggregor suppressed a groan. He did not like how mouthy and insubordinate his children had become since they teamed up with the Plumbers to prevent Servantis from taking over HQ-NV three years ago. 

Not that Aggregor was exactly ungrateful for the Plumbers’ help in return. 

Three years ago, after the Starspear caravan was attacked by a Way Bad, Shirahk was lost and alone in the Null Void. Separated from the rest of his family with only his Osmosian powers and one Plumber Magister to help him. The then Warden of the Void, Rook Blonko. Rook stayed with Shirahk, helped the child through out their journey, and made sure he got to a place where Aggregor would be able to find him. Aggregor was very grateful for that. Shirahk might have been able to survive on his own, after all, Kevin did at the same age. But probably not as well, and probably never would have gotten to the Free Fortress without Rook’s help. 

That still did not mean Aggregor trusted Plumbers. 

His trail of thought was cut off by a tactical hover vehicle, like the kind the Plumbers used rising up alongside the asteroid they were crossing. There were a number of hover vehicles still in use by other groups in the Void. But they were all old, their technology outdated, the machines themselves held together by sinew, speed tape, and prayers. But this one was new, only a little scuffed. 

Aggregor squinted at it, looking for the telltale symbol that would betray it as belonging to the Plumbers. But where all the Plumbers would be were severely scratched off, paint sprayed over in their place. Paint forming two vertical lines that made a very distinct 11. 

Aggregor blinked. It couldn’t be… 

Three years. He sure took his sweet fucking time! 

“Chaz did say Kevin would be coming soon.” Aggrenna muttered behind her father’s back. 

The THV landed beside the caravan, startling a number of their nullgars. Rolling his eyes and turning away from the driver that could only be Kevin, Aggregor turned his attention to helping the other members of the party calm the animals. 

Nullgar were domesticated Null Guardians, beast engineered by the Galvans to act as sort of casual ‘wardens’ within the Null Void. But they were still animal enough to be taken over and controlled by Dr. Animo during his short stint in the Void. After Animo’s control was expunged from them, however, there was little left of their original purpose. They truly were nothing but animal and could be domesticated and used like any other animal. But every now and again, when they felt startled or threatened, some of their old predator instincts would flair up. 

Aggregor tugged on the nullgar’s bit. Pulling the animal’s face down to him. He rubbed over the flat front of its face, a motion those that worked closely with the creatures noticed calmed them. Null Guardians and subsequently nullgars had no eyes, nose, or ears. At least, none that could be recognized as such. Their sensory organs were on the tips of their tentacles, their tongue, and spot in the center of the ‘face’. 

The hatch of the THV popped open and, yup, Kevin Levin, the former criminal known as Kevin 11,000, now the Plumber chosen Warden of the Void, hopped out. He turned back around and pulled something out of the cabin. A long, thin, and narrow metal box. 

Kevin marched up to Aggregor whom had just managed to get the nullgar back under control. Aggregor did not acknowledge him at first. He just continued to rub the furry space where the animal’s face would have been. 

Kevin cleared his throat.

“You’re late.” Aggregor informed him without turning to look at the other Osmosian. 

“I hadn’t realized we had a dinner date.” Kevin scoffed. 

Aggregor turned to glare at the younger man. 

But the tension between them was broken almost immediately by Shirahk running up to Kevin, jumping on him, and throwing his arms around him. “Kevin!”

Kevin had to quickly drop awkwardly proportioned case he was carrying to catch the teenage Osmosian. They collided with an uncomfortable “oof!” and Kevin also had to stagger back a bit to keep from falling over. No sooner had he recovered from the first child colliding with him, than he was tackled by the older two. 

“Kevin!” Both Aggrenna and Olennor pounced on him. Wrapping their arms around him and their brother, squeezing them all together in an uncomfortable group hug. 

Kevin only groaned. “Why are your children acting like they like me all of a sudden?” He asked. “What did you do to them?”

“Kevin, if someone gave Devlin a fruit you’d let him eat it right?” Asked Shirahk.

“Or at least share it with the rest of the family.” Added Olennor. 

“Or just let him keep it since he was the one it was given to and you –presumably- taught him how to look out for himself.” Finished Aggrenna. 

To all of these questions, the Osmosian only struggled against them. “Get off me!”

Massaging the sides of his head, near his short round horns, Aggregor sighed. “Aggrenna, Olennor, you’re too old to be acting this way. Shirahk, let go of Kevin and step away. He is not our friend.”

Almost reluctantly, the siblings let go of Kevin and backed away. 

Aggregor’s eyes fell to the metal box at the other man’s feet. “What is that?”

Kevin picked it up. Crossing the space between them, he held it out so that the other Osmosian could clearly read the sticker over the label. 

The vinyl of the sticker had been sliced through, but it identified the box as containing evidence in a closed Plumbers case. The case number was still readable and Aggregor recognized it. He knew that number well. It was his own case number. The item in the box was something have to do with him. Given the size, shape, and general proportion of the box, he could guess exactly what it was. 

Aggregor still asked, “What is this?”

“A bargain.” Kevin announced. “I told you I’d need allies in the Void, and you told me things were easier for you back when you had this.” He held the box up, offering it to the older man. 

Passing the primitive spear he made out of materials found the Void to Aggrenna, Aggregor reached a hand out to the box. Hesitated. Pulled his hand away without touching it. It had been so long since he’d used the old energy polearm. Did he even know how to use it anymore? Would he even recognize it? Would it recognize him? It had been a lifetime ago…

But he had to see it. If for no other reason than to confirm that it was, in fact, real. 

Reaching out again, this time Aggregor did not pull his hand away. He unlatched the box and lifted the lid. 

There it was. 

All one solid piece, no division between the shaft and blade. A wing shaped blade. Silver in color, like polished steel, but it wasn’t steel. Aggregor reached into the box to lift it out. Feeling the familiar weight in his hands. It had been decades since he held it, but it felt so natural and so right in his hands. His palms, his finger, the muscles of his arms as he lifted it. His body remembered the weapon. 

It was like being reunited with an old friend. 

“What do-“ Aggregor’s voice choked and he realized his throat was tight. Was he about to cry? He cleared his throat, making sure he had both himself and his voice under control before trying again. “What do I have to do to get this?”

“Like I said, I need allies in the Void.” Kevin repeated. “More than I originally realized, actually. Now that I’m here the asshats at HQ-NV are trying to jump ship. Guess they don’t wanna take orders from Kevin 11,000.”

“I cannot imagine why.” Aggregor smirked at him. 

“So,” Kevin wanted to stay on point. He was breaking a lot of rules putting this weapon in the hands of one of the most infamous criminals from the known universe, “will you help me?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Join me for extra content of this fic on it's tie-in blog on Tumblr:
> 
> **[Plumbers HQ-NV](https://plumbersnullvoid.tumblr.com)  
> **
> 
> There is art, short side-stories and one-shots, and if you have a Tumblr of your own, you can send Asks to the OCs and your questions will be answered in-character (please specify which character you are asking). Hope to see you there!
> 
> Also, the artist who's been doing art for this fic is [Coconfetti](https://coconfetti.tumblr.com). You should definitely check them out! They take commissions!


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